Fate/Reach Out
Chapter 7: Hazy Dream
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"?!" As with earlier today, Shirou found that rather than simply enjoying a peaceful rest with the occasional distant dream or nightmare thrown in, his consciousness awoke somewhere far more vivid.
"… Was it something I ate? Either way…" Shirou muttered under his breath while scanning his immediate surroundings. He had no idea where he was: all he could see in the hazy light was a thick white fog. Well, he could see about five meters around himself, but all he could tell was that he was standing on a raised walkway made of large red tiles. The walkway was narrow, barely wider than he was tall, and had no railings. He couldn't tell how far off the ground he was either. There was nowhere to go but forward.
First things first, though: Shirou turned his focus inward to check his Magic Circuit and found that he would have to replace it soon. While the ghostly stillness that surrounded him offered the chance to sit down and make another Circuit, Shirou was wary to try something that required so much focus and time in an unknown location. He would have to hope his current Circuit held out a little while longer.
His progress was slow and careful at first, but he felt that he was making about as much progress as he had when he stood still. No matter how far he wandered through the fog, he saw no change for the first hundred meters or so. Unconsciously, he started speeding up. With no warning, a voice echoed from all around him, barely above a whisper.
"Do you seek the truth?"
It didn't have Igor's gentlemanly drawl or Margaret's calm crispness. Shirou immediately stopped and looked around, but didn't see any signs of life. He was still alone in the dense fog and braced for an ambush. "Hello?" he called out tentatively. "Is someone there?"
There was no response, but Shirou could feel that he was being watched. More tellingly, he could hear something echoing from ahead. It sounded almost like heavy stones slamming together, but muffled. Despite running deeper into the fog in an attempt to find the source, he had the sinking feeling that he was going in a circle. Is this one of those Bounded Fields dad told me about? Is it related to that "Velvet Room" from earlier?
If he was really stuck in a Bounded Field, he could theoretically be stuck here for all eternity in a modified space outlined by the magus or creature that made it. There was always the possibility that this was just a dream, but this didn't feel like one… maybe a nightmare, one that he might never wake up from.
"If there's anyone there," Shirou shouted between strides. "Tell me: what do you want?"
"If it's truth you desire, come and find me."
The voice sounded clearer the deeper he ventured into the mist. Its tone was imperious, like a king addressing a serf. Shirou continued to run, expecting a monster or overwhelmingly powerful magus of some sort. His desire to know what was going on overrode any sense of fear that might have slowed him down.
He could see it now: at the very edges of his vision, great stone blocks collided from deeper out of the mist, paving the road just ahead of his feet as he ran.
Eventually the blocks led him to a barrier in the same black and red pattern like the tiles below. Squares encased each other in a red-black-red-black format around a glowing center button. It was almost like a doorbell.
Cautiously, he placed a palm on the unnaturally smooth, colored stone. As much as he was wary of playing into some sadistic monster's trap, this was the first deviation from the norm and he needed more information. "Trace On." The Aria rolled off his tongue and his Structural Analysis probed the barrier. At the surface, it certainly looked like stone, but the deeper the spell looked, the stranger the information got. The door wasn't truly stone at all. In fact, it seemed to be made entirely of… darkness? Shadows? Wait, was this door alive?
Just what is this place…?
Regardless, he knew someone was behind that door. Most likely the taunting voice he had heard twice before… he had come this far already, and the alternative was to sit on his hands and hope the magus was feeling generous and let him leave.
Judging by the taunting, he wasn't about to put much faith in that.
Putting the information from Structural Analysis to good use, he reached and touched the center of the door, watching as it slid and opened from the inside out. More fog poured out from with the space beyond immediately, nearly blinding him. Initially, he waited for the fog to settle, but it seemed that the longer he waited, the more poured out. Finally, he took a single, tentative step forward, then another. Even though the fog was so thick he could barely see his feet, Shirou found that the ground continued beyond the door.
When he glanced back though, he could no longer see the door at all. Definitely magic.
Standing in the middle of the fog-shrouded space, a vague, human-like silhouette watched him, its features completely hidden. "So… you are the one pursuing me," it hearing it from so close, Shirou couldn't tell if the figure was male or female, or even if it had a real gender; it was just too jumbled and unnatural to make sense of. "Let's see the potential of your power."
A bright red light emitted from the being's body, and the ground shuddered. With a hiss like an air compressor, a greenish arm ripped its way from below Shirou, forcing him to step back as the humanoid creature emerged from the ground like it was rising from the pits of hell. The creature's hairless body was emaciated to the point that its skeleton was plainly visible against its warty green skin. Its pointed teeth dripped ropes of saliva, and its sunken eyes gleamed with feral cunning. Despite its weak appearance, its movements were sharp and quick, and the mad hunger it exuded was almost a physical force.
Shirou could feel it: this was a life-or-death scenario. If he didn't kill this thing, it would rip him apart without hesitation.
"Ghoul," the being within the fog spoke. "Kill him."
The green demon, now dubbed Ghoul, let out a shrill screech and loped towards Shirou like a ravenous wolf. Its mouth dropped open, hungry for flesh. Shirou managed to evade the first charge by pure reflex, throwing himself to the side and rolling to his feet just in time to see the monster skid to a halt and charge him again!
"Trace… On!" he almost screamed, not even thinking as he moved. The creature was faster than he was and moved with the agility of a wild cat, and Shirou was unarmed and unarmored. The only thing he knew that had a chance to solve the latter problem was a gamble. He flooded prana through his shirt just as the Ghoul made its pass.
Shirou felt a split second of relief when the Ghoul's claw-like hands failed to pierce the material in its passing swipe, the cloth as tough as hardened leather. His success rate with Reinforcement was fifty-fifty at best, but it looked like fate was cutting him a break. He had no time to congratulate himself though; the Ghoul had already turned itself around, closer this time, its entire body curling around like its spine was made of rubber rather than bone.
This time Shirou could not get out of the way in time, and the demon slammed into him and bowled him over. The creature was far stronger than its gangly frame suggested, and Shirou's muscles strained to the limit just keeping that slavering mouth from tearing out his throat. The Ghoul's powerful claws squeezed tighter and tighter around his arms, and for the creature's fetid breath nearly choked the young magus-in-training as it inched closer.
Is this as far as I can go?
The moment the thought passed through his mind, fury and desperation welled up in Shirou's body, lending strength to his limbs. He kicked at the thing's stomach, throwing it back. The Ghoul shrieked in a mix of hunger and mad frustration at Shirou's stubborn resistance and stalked around him cautiously.
I… I still have things to do first! I can't die here!
Regardless of that thought repeating itself in his mind fervently, Shirou still had no weapon, and the featureless gray plane of fog offered nothing to work with. The magus knew one more spell, but his success rate with it was even lower than with Reinforcement, but the alternative was to let the demon rip him apart piece by piece.
There was no time to think any further; the Ghoul hurled itself at him, hunger overriding any caution it might have had. Shirou swung his empty hand, envisioning a sword in his mind's eye. A simple katana was all he needed.
A brief shock passed through his nerves, and instead of empty air, he was holding a weapon, but it wasn't the sword he expected. In his hands was a weapon that was equal parts sword and polearm. The whole thing was too short to be a naginata, the entire weapon a little less than five feet long, with the blade no longer than that of a katana, the rest an overlong handle. A gap ran up the middle of the handle to lighten it, but it was also wrapped in white rough cloth to make it easy to hold. For some reason, Shirou found himself settling into a guard stance that he had never tried before the moment the weight of the new weapon registered in his hand.
It proved wise: the Ghoul slammed into the weapon and was quickly shoved aside before it could bring its deceptively great strength to bear. With a sweep of his arms, the blade sang through the fog, seeking out the demon's neck. Now it was the Ghoul's turn to retreat, bending its body at an absurd angle to escape the long weapon's range and deeper into the fog. Its hateful glowing eyes were the only sign of its presence, and Shirou tracked the red pinpricks as they circled.
"Hmm… not only do you have good reflexes, but it seems you could see a little of your surroundings, despite the fog." That imperious voice mused from within the fog somewhere behind Shirou.
"What's the point of this?!" Shirou called out, not looking away from the demon for even a heartbeat. "What do you want from me?"
"You seek the truth? Win this battle and find out."
As if on cue, the Ghoul stood up and ran on two legs, its arms swinging around to tear at Shirou's flesh. Spine searing with the heat of his Magic Circuit, Shirou grit his teeth and stabbed his blade into the right side of the Ghoul's chest, biting deep into the monster's body. With a shriek of agony and mindless fury, the demon retaliated with all of its might, skewering Shirou's shoulder through his Reinforced shirt with its dark claws. Worse, the creature hissed out a purple vapor into his face smelling of rotten meat.
The stab wound was easy enough to fight through in the heat of life-or-death battle, but the cold sweat and the sickening fire that raced through his veins was not. Tearing his polearm free of the Ghoul, Shirou coughed suddenly as something hot and coppery came up from his throat. "Po-poison…?" Strength drained out of his limbs, and even as he fought to keep a grip on his weapon, Shirou fell to his knees, hacking up rosy blood and feeling his throat constrict.
The Ghoul shook itself almost like a dog and turned its hungry stare back to Shirou, apparently not bothered enough by the wound in its ribs to pay it any more mind. It slowly approached with its knifelike fingers scraping against each other like a butcher sharpening their tools.
Shirou could barely move, his vision blurring in and out and his entire body burning with an unnatural fever. With every step the demon took towards him, Shirou felt the poison burn hotter, until it felt like he was once more laying in that burning hell that was Fuyuki ten years ago.
Maybe this is all just a dream… there is no way this could really be happening…
For a split second, Shirou saw Kiritsugu's smiling face from that day, and the faces of his family in both Inaba and Fuyuki.
No, this isn't a dream. If I die here, I'll be dead for sure. But… I can't die! Not yet! Not until I realize his dream! I have to protect them!
Shirou forced himself to his feet weakly, the fire in his blood fading little by little when he brought a hand forward as though warding away the demon. To his dull surprise an aura of blue surrounded him for a second before something transparent and rectangular appeared before his hand. On instinct he grabbed it, albeit too forcefully. Whatever it was, it shattered like glass, but his hand felt no pain.
He felt a presence appear behind him, but there was no malice in it, simply power and a sensation like an out-of-body experience. It was like he was looking at the Ghoul from behind his own shoulder. A flicker of motion barely registered in the boy's eye before a lightning bolt dropped onto the Ghoul's head seemingly from nowhere.
Shirou couldn't believe his eyes. That wasn't really him, was it? Was that… did I cast thunder magecraft? That couldn't be right: he did feel something drain out of him a little, but it wasn't from his prana reserves, or at least didn't feel the same as the sensation of burning magical energy.
He didn't have time to think about that revelation though, for the Ghoul recovered and glared venomously at him. Shirou still hadn't recovered from the poison, and could only glare defiantly at the monster when it charged him again. He could barely hold his weapon still, let alone fight, but he refused to give up.
Shirou growled in his throat and struggled to draw upon more of his prana or whatever force answered his need the last time. He felt like his body was about to collapse, but as if in answer to his need, the shadowy figure from before appeared beside him, seemingly no more substantial than the fog around him. It was a towering humanoid figure hovering a foot off the ground. It was also holding something in its hands. Unlike the taunting figure deeper in, this one's presence brought nothing but comfort to Shirou.
The blade in its hand swept across its body, cleaving the Ghoul diagonally as it leapt forward. Whatever the giant was using, it sliced through the wiry demon like a hot knife through butter: the Ghoul's body split in two from shoulder to hip with terrifying strength. Shirou forced his hand to cover his mouth and nose, expecting to be showered in gore as the two halves separated. Instead, the creature's lifeless body dissolved into so much black and red mist that soon melted into the fog as though it never were.
Shirou's savior also disappeared, though he felt an aching headache when it did. At the very least, killing the thing had also caused the poison to fade from his system with it. More proof if any were needed that magic was involved.
"I see… you indeed possess an interesting quality…" the mysterious voice from before hummed, intrigued despite its arrogant tone.
With renewed strength, Shirou quickly tightened his grip on his sword and slipped into a modified kendo stance, facing the entity warily. "Alright, I've passed your little test," Shirou spat. "Tell me what's going on!"
"What exactly do you wish to know?" The voice was definitely mocking now. "If what you seek is 'truth', then your search will be even harder…"
"You said that if I beat that demon you'd tell me the truth! What the hell is going on?!"
"How naive. You demand things from forces you cannot begin to grasp, foolish one. Did you really believe passing such a minor test meant you had caught up to me?" The being glowed red again, and Shirou quickly tensed, expecting another demon. Instead, the fog thickened suddenly, pouring from the figure's position silently.
"Everyone seeks what they want to… and the fog only deepens…" it intoned cryptically.
"Stop talking nonsense!" Shirou called, trying to sweep away the fog with his blade, which only grew harder and harder to see through the thickening vapor. "You're just going to run away after leading me on? Hide in this fog you made after almost killing me?!"
"If you had a struggle of facing that meager demon, you are only going to hate what's in store for you later…"
Shirou grimaced, silently cursing his luck. If what the being hinted at came to pass, he would need to become much stronger, and fast.
"We may meet again at a place other than here, and all your questions shall be answered either by or before that time… Hmhm… I look forward to it…"
The fog continued to deepen, its smothering blanket turning his vision gray and lulling his senses. It was getting harder and harder to focus… to stay awake…
A/N: If there's anything about Shirou's life, it's that he's got it rough than most other heroes. Yu got off lucky given a random dream sword and using the shadow figure in his dream as target practice, but there was potential for a fleshed out fight right there. Shirou's magecraft gives a sensible excuse why he suddenly (but not immediately) is armed with a weapon. Just a bit more of foreshadowed events that might give a clue just how drastically different the story would be if our red-haired hero filled the role of P4 Protagonist. Ghoul was just picked at random as a suitable 'boss' fight for the scenario.
And that makes me all caught up with the story posted at the Spacebattles forum. Things are only going to get a LOT slower from here on, especially now that the spring semester is starting soon.
